20 Social Media Tips To Rule In 2014

If you’re in charge of social media management for your company, it’s time to up your game in 2014. It requires more than the random postings about your great sale, latest product or a shameless plug in the local paper. Social media marketing is easily a full-time job, and for good reason. Here are 20 ways to optimize your social media strategy in 2014 and beyond.

1. Choose the right platform

There are hundreds of social media platforms, which means there are many options beyond Facebook,
Google+,
Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Take some time to see which platforms are best for your business and limit them to five max. No full-time employee has time to manage anything more, and you may find you’re a better fit for an underdog platform than Pinterest.

2. Use analytics

There are also hundreds of tools to analyze your social media campaign success and failures. Use them. Many are free and part of the site itself, while others provide a third-party analysis. Don’t just collect reports; read them, translate them and turn them into action.

3. Post timely

Know the best days and times to post for your industry and demographics. For many businesses, this is Monday through Friday at around 10am and 4pm. However, this will vary depending on who you’re targeting. Do your research.

4. Build a relationship

Don’t just preach at your audience, but engage them, get them involved and always promptly reply to outreach. Social media isn’t a soapbox, but a tool for engagement. It’s a two-way street.

5. Use images

People are becoming more attracted to images such as infographics or easily digestible videos like those on Vine. Make use of color, but don’t overdo it. If you make a video, make sure it’s professional and high quality.

6. Make social media special

Offer truly desirable things like discounts and giveaways solely to people who follow you on social media. They should be getting something out of being your fan or liking your page.

7. Only bite off as much as you can chew

It’s all about quality, not quantity, and there’s no point joining every site that pops up just to spread yourself too thin. Choose your best social media matches and give them the attention they deserve.

8. Don’t treat it like a personal site

Just because you have 1,000 Facebook friends on your personal site and they always like your inspirational posts doesn’t mean you’ll succeed as a business poster. These are two entirely different arenas, so respect the difference.

9. Hire a social media manager

In an ideal world, you’ll make room in the budget to hire an experienced social media manager full-time. They can work magic and in a fraction of the time anyone else can. It’s a real job (and deserves a real salary).

10. Know when to call it quits

If you’re just not performing well on a particular site no matter who’s to blame, know when to end it. Just like any other bad relationship, nobody is benefiting from dragging it out. Fix it or quit it, but make a choice.

11. Build business alliances

Figure out other businesses that complement yours but aren’t direct competitors and show them some love on social media. You’re all in this together, and you never know when you could use an ally.

12. Don’t entertain the trolls

Once your social media following gets big enough, you’ll have a few trolls and baiters. Handle them professionally, and know when to publicly respond, when to let it go, and when to delete their comments. Each action has a time and place.

13. Don’t sync your phone

If you’re still the one overseeing social media for the business, it can easily turn into a 24/7 project. Don’t let it. Don’t sync your business social media sites to your phone, unless it’s a business-only phone that’s turned off at a certain hour. Taking work home with you is never healthy.

14. Don’t use it as a sales platform

It’s pretty obvious why a business is on social media: To improve sales, whether directly or through building customer relationships (which will hopefully lead to more sales). However, this isn’t a direct sales platform so don’t treat it that way. Instead, foster relationships and provide information or entertainment for free.

15. Flesh out your profile

Fill out every possible corner of your profile, whether it’s the brief requirements of Google+ or the massive ones of MySpace. This is where your business’ personality is developed and it’s important for brand reputation and management.

16. Build social media into your business plan

Whether you’re a startup or a solid corporation, you should still have a business plan in place for growth. Implement social media into it and set goals for different time periods. This is how you’ll see if social media is worth it for you.

17. Make fans want to see your posts

This seemingly simple advice is the toughest. What would you want to see as a fan or friend? Find “sticky” posts that have viral potential and people want to share.

18. Make it easy to share

Along with number 17, make it as easy to share your posts as possible. Link them to a landing page on your website, another social media site (Facebook and YouTube play together nicely) or your blog. If it’s easy for someone to just click and share, they’re more likely to do so.

19. Strike a personal/professional balance

You don’t want to get too personal, but you don’t want to seem stiffly professional either. This is a precarious balance to strike, but when done well, makes fans think they “know you” in the right way. Don’t let emotions get the best of you and save that for your personal site.

20. Grammar matters

Check, double check, and have someone else check each and every things you put on social media. An embarrassing typo can cause a world of hurt and is easily avoidable. Have you ever left the “L” out of “public service?” Some guffaws are just too easy.

I'm a tech, social media and environmental addict. I've also written for many major publishers such as National Geographic, Technorati and The Huffington Post. I have also worked with a variety of different startups around the globe as well as larger advertising agencies in...